Staff Christmas Party

Staff Christmas Party - Thursday, December 13

Don't forget that this Thursday is the staff Christmas party at Sojourner House from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Come and join us as we celebrate the holiday and appreciate the fine work of our staff in supporting our women and families.

If you wish to take part in the grab bag gift exchange, bring your wrapped gift valued at $10.

Hope we see you there!

Board Updates for November, 2007

Sojourner House Board News

Wonder why the staff paints the hands of our clients and their children red? SURPRISE! It is so they can put their handprints on the "Wall of Completion" when they complete the program and 'graduate' from Sojourner House. This is the day that marks success and celebration. It is what we all work for . . . to cheer these mothers and families on to a better life.

There is a lot going on at Sojourner House as we approach the holidays! Our next board meeting is on Monday, January 14, 2008. Here are some things to keep in mind.

New Board Member Orientation: Joanne, chair of our Governance Committee, has organized an orientation for our five new members to meet staff, tour the facility, and learn about the work at Sojourner House. This is set for Monday, November 26, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. New board members should be getting invitations soon and can RSVP by calling Sojourner House at 412-441-7783.

Staff Christmas Party: Joann, our ED, is planning a Christmas party for the staff in December. As soon as the date is decided, Kathy will send an e-mail to invite you to come and honor our staff and encourage them. The holidays are difficult and stressful for all of us; but they can be extremely difficult for people in recovery. If you are available to join us to support the staff at the party, please feel welcome to come and meet the great group of caring people that work at the Sojourner House facilities.

Victorian Tea for 2008: The Victorian Tea is scheduled for Saturday, March 29, 2008, from noon until 2 p.m. at Amici Ristorante on Route 51. The tea committee is in full swing planning the event. If you wish to join the committee, please contact Jill at the Sojourner House office for more information. For the rest of us, it is time to begin thinking of donated items to create the wonderful gift baskets for the tea. As you do your holiday rounds, be sure to ask your favorite businesses and friends for items that would contribute to a special basket. Samples of things we've had in the past are:

• Tickets to sporting events.


• Tickets to plays and cultural events.


• Dinner for two at a restaurant.


• Getaway weekend at a hotel.


• Spa services, massages, pedicures.


• Handbags, jewelry, scarves.


• Cookbooks, food items, kitchen items.


• Children's toys, books, games.


• Pittsburgh Zoo or Aviary or Children's Museum Passes.


• Cosmetics, perfume, purses, luggage.


• Gift certificates to clothing stores or boutiques.

Virtually anything can be combined with other items to make a great prize. The committee will be coming out with the list of "Themes" for this year's baskets very soon. However, please don't turn any donation down. Call Jill to let her know of any donations you can obtain.

The other thing you need to do is start making a list of people to invite to the Tea to introduce them to the great things we are doing to help the Pittsburgh families in our communities. The Tea is a wonderful way to get people acquainted with the organization. So please make out your Sojourner House list when you write your holiday greetings!

Walk for a Healthy Community sponsored by Highmark: Plans for the 6K walk starting at Heinz Field in May are already underway. Anne is head of this committee. If you are interested in getting involved and helping with this event, contact her or call the Sojourner House office to volunteer.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Your work for this great organization is greatly appreciated.

Kathy

July Board Notes

As we ended the fiscal year on June 30, we have several things to celebrate. We successfully received and spent a capital grant that allowed us to purchase two vans and a number of improvements to our properties including furniture, security cameras, repairs, and necessities for the families at Sojourner House and Sojourner House MOMS. We also passed our inspections with good marks and have only two citations that we are addressing now. Norma's last week at the house was a whirlwind, which is only fitting because of the flurry of accomplishments she leaves in her wake.

Joann Cyganovich started as our Executive Director on Monday, July 2. She is busy settling in and getting to know staff. Anne Crawford and Kathy Froehle spent some time on Monday morning going over some organizational information. Norma left an 18-month action plan as well as a list of critical items for July. So Joann is busy already.

Please be aware of these dates:

Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 5-7 p.m. - Retirement reception for Norma Raiff at Olive or Twist on Sixth Avenue. Please stop by and wish Norma well. Cash bar; hors d'oeuvres will be provided.

Monday, July 16, 2007, 5:30 p.m. dinner and social time; 6:30 p.m. will be the start of an abbreviated board meeting and update on "Jazz Explosion at LeMont". We will keep a strict time table and be out by 7:30 p.m. Agenda to follow.

Thursday, August, 16, 2007, 6-10 p.m. - "Jazz Explosion at LeMont" Registration is available on the web site. Please let Michelle Reese (412) 490-4238 or Kathy Froehle (412) 358-6041 know of any potential contacts for corporate tables or sponsorship.

Have a wonderful July!

Succession Committee Update

Board:

The Succession Committe has received the portfolio of candidates from Dewey & Kaye and reviewed the resume's and questionnaire's of nine excellent candidates. We have selected four candidates for the first round of interviews and will be talking with them between now and April 18. We have prepared a list of questions for these interviews and will complete rating sheets on each candidate.

From the first round of interviews, we hope to select two finalists for presentation to the board and staff in May.

Succession Activity And Beyond!

Succession Committee Update:

The organizational assessment is underway. Leslie is meeting with staff and gathering information for the assessment at the present time. The succession committee (Joanne, Peggy, Anne and Kathy) will be meeting with Leslie on Wednesday, 3/21, to review candidates who have applied for the ED position. The response has been good, and there are a number of good candidates.

As a note, activity on the web site is up significantly in February with over 3,200 visitors in the month of February (up from around 2,000 in previous months). The average number of sessions per day is 67; the previous averages were in the range of 35-45 sessions per day. The visitor sessions were the highest on Thursday, February 8, and Friday, February 16, which coincides with the e-mail and electronic posting of the position for Executive Director. I guess a lot of people are checking us out on the web!

Volunteer Reception (Meet and Greet) Scheduled for Wednesday, 3/21:

About 10 people have responded to our invitation for volunteers and board members; and the reception will be held at Sojourner House on Wednesday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Persons interested in board membership will be presented at the April board meeting.

Tea Update:

Invitations to the Victorian Tea are going in the mail by Monday, 3/19, with RSVP's requested either by phone or on the web site. Mrs. Ruth Anne Papa is Honorary Chair, and Timyka Artist from WPXI will be our Master of Ceremonies. Peggy Reding is being honored as this year's "Pearl of Hope" aware winner. This event is a friend raiser with an ask. We would like to raise $5,000.

A second e-mail reminder will be sent in early April.

Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community:

Sojourner House is actively working to recruit walkers and sponsors for the walk on May 19 at Heinz Field. Please form a team and register on the web site to get your packet and begin collecting pledges. Our goal is $10,000.

Sojourner House Benefit at the LeMont Restaurant:

As many of you know, we have been offered an opportunity to have a fund raiser at LeMont; and we have reserved the date of Thursday, August 16, for this important event. We need to form a committee to promote and sell seats for this fantastic opportunity. This will be an agenda item at the April board meeting as well.

There is a great deal going on! We look forward with excitement (and a little bit of "oh, my gosh!" to the next few months at Sojourner House. We have a great team!

President's Day Week

We had a very successful event at MOMS this week when the Women's Leadership Initiative from United Way came to celebrate with us at the Hearts of Chocolate presentation on Thursday. About 20 people attended, and there were tours of the facility and a lovely selection of food provided by Bigelow Grille, the restaurant in the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. (Stop by for lunch or dinner sometime; Jessica's husband, Robert, is the chef.) The Chocolate event brought us a $5,000 donation from a local business owner and an opportunity for a wonderful benefit that we will be discussing at the next board meeting on March 5.

The Victorian Tea committee is off and running with plans for the April 14 event. Invitations should be sent in early March. Mark you calendar now and begin to talk with your friends about this friend raiser. The goal of this event will be to raise about $10,000 toward our match for MOMS.

There is a Highmark employee sign-up for the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community on Wednesday, March 7. Anne will be helping to get walkers for Sojourner House at this event. Please call the office and ask Jodi for sign-up forms if you need them. The save the date cards will be mailed with the newsletters in the next few weeks. The BEST way to sign up is on the internet; go to our web site for the link. Each board member is asked to recruit at least 10 walkers. The goal of each walker is $100; and this can count toward community service requirements for students who need that. Encourage youth groups and kids organizations that you and your family are associated with to participate.

SUCCESSION:
Joanne: Did you sign the contract for D&K for the organizational assessment? Let's discuss on Monday's call.

The postings for the ED position are out, and resumes are being accepted.

Kathy will follow up with Leslie next week to see where we are in our plan and what needs to be accomplished in March.

Status: February 14, 2007

In the last week and a half several things have started to take shape.

• The job posting for the Sojourner House ED position was e-mailed to Dewey & Kaye's distribution and 5 resumes have already been received.


• The announcement letter from the joint boards is final and in the process of being copied and distributed to about 500 social service agencies within 100 miles of Pittsburgh and selected areas as far as Harrisburg.


• Leslie has provided a list of employment posting bulletin boards and sites that are frequented by candidates for positions such as ours.


• Board members and friends are being urged to forward the job posting to friends or other interested parties and have those individuals respond to Dewey & Kaye.


• Norma submitted the grant request to Forbes Fund for a portion of the fee for the Organizational Assessment.

In non-succession activities, here is the update:

• Mary J. has been appointed the event planner for the Victorian Tea with Jessica as her co-chair and Susan responsible for publicity. A conference call is planned for Thursday to review the charter and launch preparations for the event.
• A successful meeting with Mary of Citizens Bank gave us a potential grant application and a wealth of ideas and help for the Tea.
• Heather S. has received photos to create a video of last year's Tea for display at the WLI Chocolate Tasting Event on 2/22 (mark your calendars).
• The MOMS brochure is in the final stages of proofing and is ready to be sent to the printer.
• A 4-color banner is being ordered for use in the spring events.
• Rose, our volunteer coordinator, is contacting youth groups to get walkers for the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community. A pizza party will be offered as incentive for teams raising money for Sojourner House.
• Our annual report newsletter is in draft form with graphics being added and proofing taking place. The insert information is being pulled so we can recognize donors and volunteers and report our statistics.
• The Nominating Committee is considering candidates for the open board positions left vacate by recent departures.

Plan to attend the WLI event at MOMS on Thursday, 2/22. Invite a friend.

Sign up to walk for Sojourner House in the Walk for a Healthy Community on May 19. Registration can be completed on the web site. Invite your club or youth organization to form a team and walk in our behalf. Let's make our $10,000 goal!

Work List: Week of February 5, 2007

Remember the joint Board meetings at Sojourner House MOMS on Monday night, February 5.

Food will be served beginning at 5:30; the Board meeting will start promptly at 6:00 p.m. You should have received an agenda via e-mail from Norma on Friday.

Succession Committee Activities:

Finalize the announcement letter and job description for distribution on Monday.
Pull the names and verify accuracy for the merge and mailing. (Norma & Jodi)
The goal is to have the letters in the mail by February 9.
Review the ED Search Proposal from Dewey & Kaye and accept or revise.
Review the list of sites/locations for posting the job announcement provided by Dewey & Kaye.

Special events and other aspects of business will be reviewed at the meeting on Monday evening. See you there!

Board Work List for the Week of January 28, 2007

Board members and Succession Committee:

Our targets for the week of 1/29/07:

1. Edit the draft letter and posting for the Executive Director position provided by Dewey & Kaye.
2. Contact Forbes Fund about funding for the Organizational Assessment.
3. Make a decision about the level of support we need for the Executive Search Proposal.
4. Draw the list of organizations and supporters to receive the letter and posting; plan the mailing for next week.

Other activities that need attention that are not part of the succession planning are related to events.

• Put the final touches on our plans for the WLI event in February. Give the PR group the final go on this.
• Publish the web site link and announcement of the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community and begin registrations on Thursday, February 1.
• Review Mary J.'s preliminary proposal for the Victorian Tea. Review the project charter for the tea and give Mary feedback.
• Create an agenda for next Monday's joint board meeting at MOMS.
• Send an announcement to participants about the board meeting 2/6.
• Finalize the MOMS brochure and send it to print.
• Collect the statistics for the annual report; create a draft of the January annual report and newsletter.

I have an additional question. Can we consider additional board members at this time? Heather S., who is helping with the chocolate event is interested in considering this. Can the Nominating Committee send her information about this commitment? I also think we need to consider our position about new board members going into our events because these are excellent opportunities to identify additional candidates.

Week 2 - January 15-19, 2007

Team:

I have figured out the permissions and set up the blog so that only people who are invited to read our blog may sign in. I also set up Anne to be an author at her request. If anyone else wants to post, please let me know. If I have missed anyone in the invitation list, e-mail me at kfroehle@zbzoom.net. I have "invited" people based on the e-mail addresses I have on file. If you have trouble getting in, it may be because you are using a different e-mail address than the one I registered. Again, just let me know.

Since we are conducting business to an extent here, it just feels better to restrict access.

1. Last week we received two proposals from Dewey & Kaye for the executive search and the organizational assessment.


2. I assume that the visit with staff happened on Wednesday and all went well? Anne or Peggy?


3. Norma was going to call Diana B. about the possibility of funding for our search and assessment. We can find out from her on Tuesday in a conference call if Diana was positive about that.


4. Norma reported in an e-mail that there was no word from HUD last week, so she is not in gear for MOMS funding yet.


5. Norma, Jodi and Kathy attended a meeting on the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community on Wednesday morning. This event has the potential to raise a minimum of $10,000 for the organization. Kathy has volunteered to chair this committee unless someone else wants to "over volunteer" me. At the very least I will handle promotion for the event.


6. Susan and Norma met with Heather, a new volunteer.


7. Susan is managing publicity for the Victorian Tea. The committee for that event is forming as well.

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NEXT WEEK, JANUARY 15

• The Board needs to review Dewey & Kaye proposal and respond to Kate and Leslie with questions or signatures.


• We're looking for a draft of the announcement letter for Norma's pending retirement to begin reviewing it.


• Once the agreements are signed, we can work on the position description for the Executive Director position.

We have drafts of Project Charters for the February Women's Leadership Initiative Chocolate Event, the Victorian High Tea in April, and the Highmark Walk in May. We need to consider how we review and modify these so the teams can get started.

Hope you are all enjoying 2007 so far. It is off to a vicious start, so hold on to your hat!

Board Member Bloggers

Introduction to Blogging for ED Succession Planning



Today's session was great, and I'm excited about our next steps. As a recap from today's meeting, here are the action steps for the week of January 8, 2007.

1. Kate and Leslie will provide a draft of the letter announcing Norma's pending retirement and the posting of the position of Executive Director of Sojourner House for Board review by Friday, 1/12.


2. Joanne will contact Dee Jay regarding getting his help to outline next steps for the Annual Appeal.


3. Norma will contact Diana at Forbes to explore the possibility of their helping with funding for the search.


4. Kathy will set up communications for the team relative to the transition activities of the joint boards.


5. Anne and Peggy will attend the staff meeting with Norma on Wednesday to announce the Boards' decision and the involvement of staff in the process.


6. Norma will begin work on the HUD application responses.

In order to stay on track to our high-level plan for hiring an ED, the recruitment process should be started by February 1.



Other items that require Board attention in January are as follows with status below:



WLI Event at MOMS on February 22 - Norma will arrange hosting of the event. Postcards and e-mail invitations are being provided by United Way. We must mail postcards and contribute text and graphics for the e-mail invitation.



2007 Victorian High Tea at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church on April 14 - Mary J. is the event planner and Susan will take responsibility for public relations. Kathy is drafting a charter document for the tea which will be distributed to the Board later this week. Jessica has volunteered to assist with planning the Tea. Kathy also has one volunteer from last year's tea who would be willing to help with planning.



Highmark Walk for a Healthy America on May 19 - Sojourner House needs 100 walkers for the event. Kathy, Jodi and Norma will attend an organizational meeting for the walk on Wednesday, 1/10. More details will follow. Both Citizens Bank and the Adventure Club (see Norma) are sources of potential walkers.



Please add comments to this blog if you have corrections or additions. I hope this media is an easier way to communicate to the broad audience without multiple e-mails. Let me know what you think.



Kathy